


On the same boat

by MadHatter13



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Bisexual Character, Gen, Not sure about Ford, Post-Canon, Stan is bi, an alternate sci-fic sideburn dimension, it's up to you, or as it turns out, two old men dealing with their fucked-up past together, you can't be straight in space
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-12
Updated: 2016-03-12
Packaged: 2018-05-26 06:51:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6228226
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadHatter13/pseuds/MadHatter13
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"But, what with sailing and monsters and one thing or another, some things just don‘t come up, until one night when they‘ve docked somewhere in Argentina and Stan runs into… some old acquaintances."</p><p>Stan and Ford work on getting along, along with other things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On the same boat

So it turns out that finally making up after 30 years of silent dispute and anger takes more than a few weeks.

Not that either of them expected anything else. All in all, it could have been a lot worse.

But that‘s the thing about being stuck on the same boat – literally. _(yeah you don‘t have to point out the pun there, Ford, it was nerdy enough before you touched it)_. You _have_ to talk about stuff, or you could end up being fatally distracted when a massive hydra _made_ out of water bears down on said boat to crush it, because your nerdy brother accidentally stole one of its water-eggs.

Boy, wasn‘t _that_ a fun Tuesday.

Mostly Stan does it through joking admittance, which is the closest he can get to being honest. Sentences on the general theme of “damn, our childhood was pretty messed up” and “hey, at least this brand on my shoulder looks like a tattoo, which is pretty In with the ladies these days.”

_(one late night after whatever was in that flask Ford carries it‘s ‘I never actually forgave dad.’)_

_(there‘s really no answer to that, but his brother‘s ‘No-one should expect you to,’ isn‘t bad, all the same.)_

But, what with sailing and monsters and one thing or another, some things just don‘t come up, until one night when they‘ve docked somewhere in Argentina and Stan runs into… some old acquaintances.

 _(look, he wasn‘t paying attention. he didn‘t_ know _it was a gay bar.)_

And after _both_ Ernesto and Paul have held him up for like, twenty minutes, asking how he‘s been, and patted him on the back and promised to invite him to dinner one of these days if he‘s in town, Stan sits in the resulting silence, and sips his drink. Loudly.

_(it‘s their bar, as it turns out, and on top of that they got married last year. goddamn, if the world hasn‘t changed for the better in at least one respect.)_

He‘s pondering just how sarcastic he can make his rebuttal to Ford‘s inevitable snark, or if maybe he has any smoke-bombs left, because the _last_ thing he wants to discuss with his sixty-something year old estranged twin is his personal life.

However, before he can create a diversion, Ford opens his mouth, but hesitates when he sees Stan‘s eye twitch in response. Then he says, ‘It’s alright, Stanley.’

‘Oh, really? Hey, I don’t know where you’ve been, Sixer, but _here_ it’s only been ‘alright’ for maybe a decade and a half. Probably a lot less.’ He drains his drink, and nods at the bartender for another.

‘Well, as it turns out, I wasn’t _here_ for thirty years, was I?’ He says it with the appropriate amount of sarcasm, so that Stan knows he’s not being serious, but somewhere the reminder still twinges, a bit.

‘What’re you saying?’

Ford gives a long and exasperated sigh, and pinches the bridge of his nose. ‘In an alternate dimension, no-one can hear you pretending to be straight, Stanley.’

‘Oh?’ He lets this sink in. ‘ _Oooh.’_

‘Right.’ Ford clears his throat. ‘Besides, collage was… A bit of an eye-opener.’

Stan is completely silent for half a moment, before he bursts out laughing, loud enough to disturb the rest of the patrons. Through the tears of mirth he manages to choke, ‘Dad would have had a _fit_.’

Ford grins, and raises his glass. ‘I’ll drink to _that_.’

All in all, it could have been a lot worse.


End file.
